Born in Onomichi, a port on Japan’s Inland Sea, in 1938, Obayashi began making films as a child, using a projector and film owned by his physician father.

A pioneering experimental filmmaker in the 1960s, Obayashi went on direct nearly 3,000 TV commercials in a long career, many with international talent including Charles Bronson and Catherine Deneuve.

In 1977 he made his feature debut with “House,” a free-spirited, wildly imaginative horror-fantasy that was a hit on its release in Japan and later became a cult favorite abroad.

In Japan, Obayashi is best known for a trilogy of films he shot in Onomichi: “Exchange Students” (1982), “The Girl Who Leapt through Time” (1983) and “Lonely Heart” (1985).

These and other films he made in the 1980s and after typically starred young female talents and had sci-fi and fantasy elements. Obayashi also worked a more serious vein, including the 1989 “Beijing Watermelon” about the lives of Chinese students in Japan, and the 1994 “Turning Point,” a drama about a middle-aged female journalist who struggles for recognition in a male-dominated business.

His films were widely screened at Berlin, Moscow and other festivals. In 2016 the Udine Far East Film Festival presented an Obayashi tribute section with the director in attendance.

Diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer in August 2016 and given three months to live, Obayashi went on to make two more films with antiwar themes, the 2017 “Hanagatami” and this year’s “Labyrinth of Cinema,” whose March opening was postponed because of coronavirus.

“Uncle,” Danish director Frelle Petersen’s drama about a young woman’s life on a small farm with her disabled uncle, was awarded the Tokyo Grand Prix at the closing ceremony Tuesday of the 32nd Tokyo International Film Festival. Shot in rural Denmark with real-life farmer Peter Hansen Tygesen playing the title role, the film had its world premiere in the Japanese capital.

Iran’s Saeed Roustaee was named Best Director for his thriller “6.5.” Navid Mohammadzadeh’s performance in the film earned him the Best Actor trophy.

The Best Actress award went to Nadia Tereszhiewicz for her performance in Dominik Moll’s “Only the Animals.” The film also scooped the Audience Award.

The Best Screenplay prize went to Shin Adachi’s “A Beloved Wife,” one of two Japanese films in the competition, while Chinese director Wang Rui was on hand to accept the Best Artistic Contribution award, which went to “Chaogtu With Sarula.”

In the Asian Future section for films by up-and-coming Asian directors, the Best Film award went to “Summer Night” (China) and the Japan Foundation Asia Center’s The Spirit of Asia prize to “Old Men Never Die” (Iran).

In the Japanese Cinema Splash section for Japanese indie films, the Best Film was Tatsuya Mori’s documentary “i – Documentary of the Journalist,” while Hirobumi Watanabe scooped Best Director honors for “Cry.”

Finally, the Tokyo Gemstone Award for new talents went to Josefine Frida, Sairi Ito, Riru Yoshina and Yui Sakuma. The previously announced Lifetime Achievement awardees are actor Tatsuya Nakadai and director Nobuhiko Obayashi.

Held this year from Oct. 28 to Nov. 5, the Tokyo festival recorded 65,211 admissions to 180 films, slightly down from last year, when 187 films were screened.